YOU could almost see the faint streak of a star running across the Washington sky this week as President Jakaya Kikwete visited the political capital of the world. The Tanzanian president is indeed evolving into the most favored African presidents in Washington. He makes unusual waves when he visits Washington ? well, not quite like Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia but the Tanzanian president clearly embodies the tremendous promise of a star African president.

While in town President Kikwete made rounds that are markers of important guests in this most powerful political town in the world. When you are in Washington and you have a long conversation with the powerful Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice; have an earnest talk with the influential Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) ? a group of black representatives in the United States Congress ? you must be doing something right.

Most impressive was the talk Kikwete had with members of the CBC Tuesday that was attended by all influential black congressmen, including representatives Barbara Lee, Elijah Cummings, and Donald Payne. Sources say the Tanzanian president briefed the members on various African issues and challenged them to strengthen Africa’s constituency in the US by pushing African issues into the domestic agenda of US national politics.

He informed the CBC that the African Union had designated the African Diaspora as the Sixth Chapter of the AU - underlining the seriousness that Africa pays to its relationship with Africans and people of African descent who live outside the continent. So impressive was the president that the representatives waited until the last minute to rush to the floor of the House of Representatives for an impending vote.

President Kikwete’s meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have elicited instant outcome, for just the next day, the US Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation announced that Tanzania would get a $ 698m aid package to be spent on poverty reduction programmes.

The statement said the money would be used to improve the country’s road network, power system and water supply. Just so you know, the Millennium Challenge Corporation gives grants only to countries that demonstrate a commitment to good governance, economic freedom and elimination of extreme poverty.

On Monday President Kikwete gave the inaugural African Presidential Lecture Series jointly organized by the African Union Mission in the US and the Washington-based Academy of Education and Development (AED). It was a remarkable honour at a time when there were so many African leaders in the area, ready for the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York. In what sounded like a self-prophecy Kikwete pleaded with the West to focus on the stars in the African landscape instead of the forbidding sand dunes.

This visit demonstrated that Washington is warming up to Kikwete as the kind of an African leader who could lead the way in forging a dependable working relationship with the West ? a star president. Melvin Foote, Chief Executive Officer of Constituency for Africa says: ’’I am very impressed with President Kikwete.? He operates very much in line with the tempo established by Julius Nyerere.?I find him very rationale, compassionate, and Diasporic in his perspective.’’

But with stardom comes more scrutiny. While the president is clearly winning Washington’s confidence, it is also obvious that he is yet to step out there and claim his place in the spotlight. His speeches are sensible but not spirited or memorable. He is articulate but lacks fire in his speeches.

I mean just like, let it all hang out and drop a bomb ? not that kind - a vision bomb that announces to the West that there is new thinking in Africa and ’I’m the face of it.’ He also needs to learn the art of making his visits to Washington a major news event for the American media.

For now, the big media outlets such as television networks ? CNN, ABC and CBS and major newspapers such as the Washington Post hardly give him coverage. That would not come with halting, quiet diplomacy. It comes with making noise, sensible noise.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications invites tenders to an open tender procedure for regional scheduled air services on the routes Andenes – Bodø v.v. and Andenes – Tromsø v.v. during the period 1 January 2008 to 31 March 2009.

The Norwegian military scrambled fighter jets twice on Thursday, to monitor yet another series of flights by Russian jets just outside Norwegian air space.

The Norwegian F-16 fighter jets took off from Bodø in the early morning hours to keep an eye on Russia bombers flying in international airspace off the Norwegian coast.

It was the latest of several such incidents in recent months, as Russia apparently is trying to assert its presence in the north. The Russians have stepped up military exercises from its Arctic bases and flown near Norway and the UK, both members of NATO.

A Norwegian military spokesman said the Russian aircraft stayed well away from the coast and did not near Norwegian territory.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Norwegian companies have such desperate need for workers, and are so fed up with the hassles foreigners face getting work permission in Norway, that they want to be able to simply issue work permits themselves.

Chelsea now head to the Premiership champions, Manchester United, on Sunday without their charismatic coach.

At the heart of yesterday's final fall-out between Mourinho and Abramovich is the owner's desire for more attractive football, the type of free-flowing attacking game that Chelsea have failed to manage consistently under Mourinho.

While the Portuguese manager was winning back-to-back League titles, an uneasy peace lingered - but when results began to slip, Abramovich's displeasure became obvious.

The Russian walked out early from Chelsea's 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa earlier this season, and he will not have enjoyed Tuesday's poor result and performance.

Mourinho, 44, will go down as Chelsea's most successful manager, and the fans will lament the charismatic coach's departure.

He was voted Premiership Manager of the Year in 2005 and 2006, and he will not be short of job offers. Chelsea's board must now quickly call a meeting with Terry, Lampard, Drogba.

It happened that the first contact The Bongo Sun was given by the link-person was of a medical doctor of Muhimbili Medical Centre and the second one was of a doctor working with the Angaza Counseling and Testing Centre at Magomeni. When doctors were contacted they all agreed that they would get the certificates upon payment of 30,000/- by the client.

The Angaza based doctor agreed to meet the “client’ at a certain place in Kariakoo and, on a motorcycle, drove together to Angaza - Magomeni where the certificate was forged and delivered without the authentication stamps. The doctor was paid 20,000/- bargained sum on the spot. Realizing that the certificate did not have official stamp the “client” went back to the doctor the next day and the authentication stamping was done.

Our reporter told the Angaza doctor that she was not ready for the actual HIV test because she suspected she is already infected because her fiancé died of AIDS .

It is interesting to note, however, that despite this “confession” by the reporter the doctor has been insistent that they strike a sexual relation deal, putting in question the ethical swearing of the medical professionals.

After finishing the deal with the Angaza doctor, our reporter went back to the link person who had already, by then, contacted the Muhimbili based medical doctor and got another ‘negative’ certificate. The certificate, all filled by the doctor and her role was just filling-in her name and age. The certificate was given to the reporter after paying another bargained 20,000/-.

However, in an act that shows this doctor is well experienced in committing such crimes, he offered a certificate with Kinondoni Municipal Council headed paper instead of ANGAZA where he works.

When asked about the matter, the Kinondoni HIV/AIDS coordinator, Dr. Victoria Ludovick was shocked but admitted that the certificate was from the Center. She thanked The Bongo Sun for the investigation that will save so many peoples’ lives and promised to take forensic action against the responsible person.

The Norwegian Government agreed today to cancel NOK 2.5 million of The Gambia’s debt to Norway.

The agreement is based on a multilateral framework agreement concluded in the Paris Club, a forum for creditor countries, in June this year. The debt treatment for The Gambia in the Paris Club is part of the international initiative to reduce the debts of the poorest and most debt-stricken countries (the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, or HIPC, initiative).

In accordance with the Norwegian Debt Relief Strategy, the debt was cancelled without taking any funds from the development budget. The cancellation does not therefore affect the development assistance provided to other poor countries.

The Gambia’s remaining NOK 7 million of debt to Norway will be cancelled when the country reaches the completion point defined under the HIPC initiative.

SEARCH FOR JUSTICE: John Susdorf, a Canadian citizen of Hebrew origin and former soldier, during his recent interview in the THISDAY newsroom in Dar es Salaam. Standing beside him is his son Christopher.___________________________________

TITO MGANWADar es Salaam

A 70-YEAR OLD Canadian citizen, John Susdorf, is seeking President Kikwete’s intervention after being allegedly roughed up by a group of Tanzanian soldiers in Kibaha District, Coast Region, dragged to a police station, and charged with disturbing the peace earlier this year.

Susdorf claims he was thoroughly beaten up by four uniformed members of the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) from the Nyumbu military camp in Kibaha on April 23. He said the incident occurred as he was trying to defend his son Christopher against expulsion from Nyumbu Primary School.

’’It all started when I went to the school to ask teachers why they expelled my son after he refused to be flogged for going to school late,’’ he said.

Flanked by young Christopher himself, the Canadian national claimed in an interview in THISDAY’s newsroom in Dar es Salaam that teachers at the school had a habit of forcing pupils to do frog jumps after administering corporal punishment.

’’That is a military punishment. I told them that schoolchildren are not soldiers, and the teachers are not army generals,’’ said Susdorf, stating that he himself was a former soldier serving in special foreign battalions in West Germany between 1957 and 1961.

Continuing with his narration, he said after arguing with the teachers for a while, four soldiers arrived from the Nyumbu military installation and started physically assaulting him.

’’The army has no jurisdiction over civilians...that is the work of the police. I am a 70-year-old man, but I was physically attacked by four soldiers without provocation, in front of my son,’’ he said.

’’Without any introduction or warning, Corporal Abdallah kicked me on my left leg. I fell down on the schoolyard ground, and the soldiers started to flog me savagely with military belts while at the same time kicking me all over the body with their army boots,’’ said Susdorf.

’’As a result of the beating, I sustained serious injuries and was hospitalised for several weeks,’’ he told THISDAY.

He said in his distraught state, he was dragged by the soldiers to the Mkuza Police Station and later charged with causing a disturbance at the school in criminal case number 89/2007, currently proceeding at the Kibaha Resident Magistrate’s Court in Coast Region.

He said all he is seeking is justice for himself and his son Christopher, who also holds a Canadian passport.

Describing himself as a land surveyor by profession, Susdorf said he does not have any confidence in the Kibaha Court to mete out fair justice, and has formally written a letter to the High Court requesting that the pending case against him be transferred to the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam.

Apart from presenting his complaints against the alleged military brutality to State House in Dar es Salaam, the Canadian national said he has also sought intervention from the Prime Minister’s Office, the former Chief of Defence Forces George Waitara, and the Canadian embassy in Dar es Salaam.

He said his first brush with Tanzanian courts came in another criminal case back in 2002, when he was jailed by the Kibaha court.

He said he successfully appealed against the conviction and sentence, and was cleared by the Tanzanian Court of Appeal, which in 2005 declared the trial at the lower court in Kibaha was null and void.

According to Susdorf, the Court of Appeal also described the sentence imposed on him as ’illegal.’

He said he believed he had been targeted partly because of his Jewish faith and the fact that he is a foreign national.

SAS has cancelled all flights with DASH-400 aircrafts, the same type of aircraft that has been involved in two dramatic emergency landings.

Eleven planes are now being brought back from various European airports to the SAS base in Stockholm and Copenhagen, where they will be thoroughly examined.

The planes will stay on the ground until the Norwegian Air Traffic and Airport Management gives them a clear signal, but will not be flying anywhere for the next few days.

In order to decrease the number of cancellations SAS have rented aircrafts from other companies, but the cancellations may end up costing them more than 100 million Danish Kroners. “We take one day at the time,” said Lisbeth Reinwaldt in SAS.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete left yesterday for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which begins on September 18 this year.

Mr Kikwete is expected to address the assembly on September 24 and 27 on various political and social issues, especially on global climate change – the top item in the agenda -- in this year’s meeting, the state house said in a statement.

The president would also deliver a speech on UN reforms, especially the structure of the UN Security Council. He would also speak on the political situation in the Great Lakes region and developments in western Sudan’s region of Darfur.

Mr Kikwete will Co-Chair with the Finnish President a global summit to discuss climate change and receive African American Institute (AAI) award to Tanzania in recognition of the country’s efforts to ensure more children go to school.

He will meet other top political, social and business leaders including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

The president’s delegation includes several ministers and members of the business community with the aim of continuing and following up on various agreements between Tanzanian and American businessmen.

Brazilian flags were waving around Oslo on Thursday to welcome the county’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for an official state visit. Best known as simply "Lula," the folksy head of state planned to urge Norway to ease its protectionist policies and allow more Brazilian products into the country.

Brazil's popular and highly respected president was to head straight from the airport to a an official welcome ceremony on the grounds of the Royal Palace, and then to a gala banquet held in his honor inside.

The sun was shining brilliantly as palace crews put the final touches on arrangements for his arrival. His official program begins at 9am Friday, when he's to open a trade seminar between Norway and Brazil.

From there he’ll head into morning meetings with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, before having lunch with government ministers and a meeting with the president of the Norwegian Parliament, Thorbjørn Jagland.

Lula's wish listLula told newspaper Aftenposten in an interview in Brasilia that he looked forward to meeting Stoltenberg and had three missions on his agenda, "two of which I’m going to ask the Norwegian prime minister to help me with."

Lula said he intended to ask Norway for its support for Brazil's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

"In addition I want to ask Prime Minister Stoltenberg to support us in the Doha round (of the World Trade Organization talks)," Lula said. He wants wealthy countries like Norway to cut their subsidies to agricultural products, "something the Third World can benefit from."

Lula, like many others, believes subsidy cuts would enhance real competition in the market. Norwegian farmers' traditional demands for assistance effectively keep cheaper imports out of the country and keep Norwegian price levels high. Norway's longtime support for its own farmers has often been criticized as coming at the expense of farmers in poverty-stricken countries.

Product of povertyLula, age 61, is a product of poverty himself, as the youngest of eight children in a poor family from northeastern Brazil. He had to help support the family as soon as he learned to walk, went hungry, and tried to earn money shining shoes as a child.

"I’ll never forget the hunger and degradation," he told Aftenposten. "That’s why we’re pursuing education, a more fair distribution of wealth and campaigns against hunger and poverty."

Lula, said he was "deeply impressed" by the social welfare states built up by Norway and other Nordic countries. He hopes to do the same in Brazil, and claims that around 7 million people in Brazil have been lifted out of poverty. He said around 11 million families now receive financial assistance that allows them to send their children to school and for regular health checks.

Lula is traveling with Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, and the director for state oil company Petrobras, Jose Sergio Gabrielli. The state visit runs through Friday.

Friday, September 14, 2007

.....that the National Population Register includes information about everyone residing in Norway?

Information about people living in Norway is gathered for tax, electoral and population analyses by local tax assessment offices. This information is registered in the National Population Register (Folkeregisteret), and is overseen by the Directorate of Taxes (Skattedirektoratet). Information from the National Population Register, e.g. names, addresses, citizenship, identification numbers, position of employment and civil status of people, is only accessible to authorised public sector offices. However, members of the public may apply for access to information from the National Population Register for legal purposes. Applications for information from the National Population Register are processed by local tax assessment offices and the Office of the National Registrar.

AFTER last week’s killing of 14 hardcore criminals, 12 of them Kenyans, in a shoot-out with police, cops have arrested two alleged credit card thieves from Nairobi attempting to con shops in Arusha, the headquarters of the East African Community (EAC).

The Arusha Regional Police Commander, Mr Matei Basilio, named the two suspects yesterday as Reuben Kirongothi (33) and Bernard Kirui (30) both residents of Nairobi, Kenya.

Mr Basilio told the 'Daily News' by telephone that the Kenyans were also found in possession of a machine for making fake credit cards, a master card key, three Compact Discs (CDs) with different computer programmes and several credit cards bearing different names.

“The Kenyans were arrested after three people entered a Woolworth shop on September 9, selected clothes worth 700 US dollars and tried to pay using a Barclays Bank credit card.

But the attendant got suspicious and when checking the authenticity of the card, the three men hurriedly left the shop without a word”, Mr Basilio said.

According to Mr Basilio, the three men left in a Toyota Corolla taxi cab. After the shop notified the police, the law enforcers nabbed the driver who led them to the suspects.

“The taxi driver told the police that the suspects were staying at Roundabout Guest House and when the police went to search the place they found two of the men and put them under arrest”, he said.

The RPC said that the two suspects had legal travelling documents and records showed that Kirongothi has visited Tanzania once before and that Kirui had visited the country twice before. They last arrived in the country on September 9 this year.

Mr Basilio further said that the suspects named one John of Sinawari as their Tanzanian accomplice along with his Rwandan girlfriend, Pauline Nyimara. Police are still searching for them, he said.

"Norway tries to build a peace-keeping image, but cannot do so at the expense of the peace on the Horn of Africa," said the Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin in an exclusive interview with newspaper Aftenposten.

In a blow to Norway’s peace-keeping ambitions, Mesfin alleged in the Aftenposten interview that Norwegian authorities support "terrorist groups" in Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, destabilising peace on the Horn of Africa.

"The soldiers in Eritrea are financed in full by Norway. By supporting those who destroy peace processes in our neighbouring countries, Norway undermines the Ethiopian government’s peace work," Mesfin claimed.

He added that Norwegian money sponsors weapons for terrorist groups in Somalia and Sudan, and that Norwegian authorities operate out of sight of local governments.

From left to right: President Jakaya Kikwete, PCCBs boss Edward Hosea and ex-President Benjamin William Mkapa_____________________________________________

THISDAY REPORTERDar es Salaam

THE Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) has no legal powers to investigate allegations of corruption brought against the country’s former presidents because of constitutional restrictions, PCCB director Edward Hosea asserted yesterday.

Speaking at a special discussion forum on the new anti-graft legislation for editors and senior journalists from various media houses in the country, Hosea said the national constitution contains various clauses and provisions that make it difficult for the anti-corruption watchdog to investigate ex-heads of state.

’’For instance, Article 46 of the constitution prohibits anybody from raising a criminal and related case, including corruption, against the president in power. Other constitutional provisions protect these leaders against corruption charges even after their tenure of office expires,’’ stated Hosea in response to a question from one of the forum participants.

The question was raised in the wake of serious allegations of abuse of power brought against former president Benjamin Mkapa and first lady Anna Mkapa, who are alleged to have registered their own private entrepreneurship company, ANBEM Limited, and subsequently engaged themselves in private business dealings while still at State House.

According to Hosea, a person wishing to charge or sue a former president would have to abide by protracted legal procedures in order to do so. ’’Such a person will have to forward the matter to parliament for debate and approval. And such a motion would have to be endorsed by a certain percentage of MPs,’’ he said.

He continued: ’’The ex-president himself would need to be notified prior to the corruption charges being brought against him. In fact, there are quite a number of complex and complicated constitutional procedures that protect former presidents from such corruption charges.’’

The PCCB boss said a constitutional amendment was the only way to scrap the restrictive clauses and provisions and ease the procedures for prosecuting top state leaders implicated in corruption during and after their tenure in office.

’’However, constitutional amendments have negative implications. This (the constitution) is a sensitive document, which cannot be amended lightly. That alone will require its own procedures, and at the end of the day, you will find yourself going back to the same story of prolonged procedures. It´s not easy,’’ he told the avidly-listening forum participants.